


to plead guilty

by talking_tina



Category: Naruto
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-09-15
Updated: 2014-09-15
Packaged: 2018-02-17 11:20:59
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 941
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2307773
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/talking_tina/pseuds/talking_tina
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Sasuke knew he was going to die.</p>
            </blockquote>





	to plead guilty

**Author's Note:**

> okay, so, first and foremost, i think it's very important to note that i haven't been active in the naruto fandom in YEARS, let alone written any fic. so this is a work that's been sitting in my writing folder for going on four years now, and i only just got around to cleaning stuff out yesterday and today. so if it's terribly outdated or no longer sensible/applicable to canon, or if it seems very different than the writing style in some of my more recent works, that is why.
> 
> still, i hope some of you guys can enjoy this and the next couple stories i post.
> 
> this one was written roughly four years ago? so whatever arc the show was in then was when this takes place.
> 
> disclaimer: i don't own naruto or any of its characters. no copyright infringement intended.

Sasuke knew he was going to die.

 

He could feel eyes of the two Chuunin guarding the front gate of Konoha on him as he walked on slowly, ebony bangs hanging in an almost shameful fashion over his eyes, obscuring his face from view. He didn’t want to look at them. He didn’t want to look at _anything_.

 

He could hear Naruto’s louder, clumsier footsteps beside him; practically see the grin on his face although he wasn’t looking. The only thing running through that idiot’s mind, Sasuke knew, was that he had succeeded—he had brought Sasuke back.

 

When Naruto finally caught up with him, he didn’t fight. There was no point. He had nowhere else to go. Orochimaru was out of the way, Itachi was dead, and Team Taka had long ago fallen apart. Konoha was his only other option. _Death_ was his only other option.

 

He cocked his ear as he heard the familiar groan of the gates opening, the guards still staring in shock at the person they couldn’t quite believe was there. It was _the_ Sasuke Uchiha; the Sasuke Uchiha that had left Konoha and killed two S-ranked criminals, one of them his own brother; the Sasuke Uchiha that had killed _the_ Danzou; the Sasuke Uchiha that held no guilt in murdering his own team.

 

Sasuke bit his lip, a bad habit he had had when he was younger whenever he got nervous, as he stepped forward silently towards his doom, towards what he knew was his death. Naruto followed suit, only slightly clumsier; a little less shamefully. They were both travel-worn—they had been walking for two days straight, Naruto had refused to stop (even to eat) as they made their way back to the Leaf. He wanted Sasuke home.

 

But Sasuke knew that he no longer had a home, not since he was eight.

 

His nails bit painfully into his palm as he walked impassively down the street, Naruto as his side. He could begin to make out a few words in the jumbled nonsense of whispers; among them, “murderer” and “traitor”. He gulped, a bead of sweat trickling down his neck. He was used to stares, he got them all the time, but he had never liked it. Ever.

 

He remained emotionless as they made their way to Hokage tower. Sasuke didn’t want to go, honestly; he wanted to run, run all the way back to the Uchiha District and into his brother’s bedroom and curl up in a corner, alone with just himself and the dark. But he didn’t; instead, he forced himself up those steps and down that hallway, where he’d hear officially that he was going to die.

 

Sasuke’s jaw tightened.

 

_He was going to die_.

 

He stopped several feet from the door to the Hokage’s office, and waited patiently as Naruto passed him, pressed his hand to the knob and turned.

 

He resisted the urge to look up as the door was opened and Naruto walked in, he himself short to follow, presenting himself to the Hokage he hardly knew. It was quiet for several moments before she spoke

 

“…Sasuke Uchiha.”

 

He took a short moment to rid of all of the emotion in his eyes, before looking up with eerily empty coal black irises to meet fiery amber ones teeming with a number of emotions, each too fleeting to name.

 

“…Tsunade.”

 

The lack of the normally present honorific was noticeable.

 

She set her elbows down on her desk and supported her chin with the palms of her hands, blonde eyebrows furrowed in concentration as she glared at him. “Naruto brought you back, I see.”

 

Sasuke swallowed before answering. “Yeah. He did.”

 

 

Tsunade finally sighed and reclined back in her chair, running a hand through her platinum blond locks as she stared out the window with something Sasuke almost recognized as desperation in her eyes. He amber orbs glanced back at him, Naruto, and then back out the window.

 

“Forgive me, Sasuke,” she sighed, “But… I’m going to have to keep you locked up until a final decision is made. You’re an S-class criminal; I can’t just let that go.”

 

He lowered his head the slightest, enveloping his eyes in shadow as his ebony bangs hung in greasy locks in front of them.

 

He knew it.

 

He was going to die.

 

“Hai,” he mumbled.

 

He knew Naruto was staring at Tsunade in confusion because he knew the thought that he, Sasuke Uchiha, could be arrested hadn’t even crossed the blonde’s mind.

 

Indeed, Naruto’s head swiveled around in bewilderment as ANBU entered the room to flank either of Sasuke’s sides, gloved hands gripping the Uchiha’s upper arms uncomfortably tight.

Sasuke didn’t fight.

 

“Please… take him to the Torture and Interrogation Unit. Just don’t send anyone in after him, please. Just… just wait ‘til I’m down there. I need to think this out.” She licked cracked lips and tilted her head back. “I really need some alcohol…”

 

Sasuke barely saw, out of his (now slowly failing) peripheral vision, the ANBU nod curtly before tugging him—oddly gently—back out the door. As they guided him out the door, he heard a puzzled, “…Baa-chan?” behind him and knew that Naruto was finally going to realize that Team Seven would never exist again.

 

He could imagine how Naruto would take it.

 

He grunted as the ANBU’s hands squeezed a little too tightly on his arms, causing him to jerk and earning stares from both of them. He didn’t stare back, instead kept his eyes fixated on the ground he hadn’t walked on in years. He swallowed.

 

Sasuke knew it. He was going to die.

 


End file.
